


Leather and Ash

by thefullmetaledwardelric



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: M/M, implied RoyEd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-16
Updated: 2014-07-16
Packaged: 2018-02-09 02:37:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1965741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefullmetaledwardelric/pseuds/thefullmetaledwardelric
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Edward sits outside the university waiting for Alphonse he catches a scent he never thought he'd encounter again. Is he simply losing his mind or is it something more?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leather and Ash

Sitting alone outside the University, golden eyes looked to the sky. The light had gone slipping down the horizon but the twinkle of street lamps was plenty enough to see by. It also allowed the soft glow of those foreign and yet all too familiar twinkles of light to be seen in the darkness. The air was crisp but not unpleasant though the blond that sat on the stone wall waiting for his little brother to emerge knew that would give way to a bitter winter cold soon enough. For now… well… for now he was content to look upon the highlighted darkness and think of something, or more someone, that held a look in his eyes that was easily the very same.

It had been four years now since Edward Elric and his younger brother Alphonse had come back to this country and left everything else they knew, and loved, behind. It had been a necessary evil if only to ensure that those very things remained safe but it wasn’t easy none the less. The task had only required that Edward alone come back to this place, back to this foreign world so familiar and yet so alien at the same time but he was quietly glad his younger brother had defied him and stowed away. At least having him here made things more bearable, even when everyone else thought he was crazy.

This night found the eldest Elric waiting for the youngest as he attended a lecture. Ever since they had left Munich, left Germany entirely, that was all that Alphonse seemed to want to do. Though he supposed he couldn’t blame him. Alphonse’s thirst for knowledge was as all consuming as his own but he’d found the lecturers here in London dull unlike Alphonse. He let his little brother go, and met him every evening to hear the stories of the things that he had learned, usually after a night spent in the library himself.  Oddly, tonight he hadn’t done that, instead opting to wait where he was beneath the stars in the soft glow of street light.

The blond’s eyes were fixed on the sky as theories and wild ideas ran through his head. The rocketry that he’d once studied with Alfons, the circles of that ancient alchemy, vague dreams of still one day being able to return home. It all seemed like a distant memory now, nothing more than the shadows of another life. But then, in a way, they were. Edward knew there was no way they would ever get home, despite the dreams that still pulled him there, despite the nights being awoken by Alphonse because he’d been crying in his sleep from the pain of those dreams. Edward longed for who and what he could no longer have.

Alphonse knew what pained his brother but being the good hearted soul that he was, he never spoke of it after that first night. He’d heard Edward whimpering the name in the depths of sleep as those tears had run down his cheeks, the only time he would ever bear witness to his older brother actually shedding tears. It had only been after that first night that Edward had told him everything, told him the truth of a past neither one of them could do anything about now. Edward told Alphonse of the affair, the stolen evenings when he should have been researching, the even more risky stolen moments at Command. He told Alphonse everything and Alphonse had simply pulled his older brother close comforting him as the younger realized his brother had been willing to not only give up his only family that day, but his first love as well, to make sure everyone would be safe. Alphonse couldn’t even begin to imagine how his brother had worn even that sad smile as he’d walked back into the plane that day.

Edward had spent his days dealing with it with a nightcap every night, though no amount of cognac could ever seem to drown out the memories that played through his dreams; it only seemed to slightly numb the realism. Even with the closed eyes and the distance of an entirely different world, he could still see the dark features, smell the hints of ash and worked leather, and hear the voice saying his name, the deep whisper of his voice in his ear. Edward could remember everything from the surprising softness of his hair to how warm his breath had always been against his skin. There were nights that it felt almost too real to be a dream. Some nights he felt as though he really were back in Roy Mustang’s arms.

It was those dreams that the sight of the stars called to the blond’s memory as he sat atop that stone wall. He actually thought to close his eyes for a brief moment but shortly after he did, a scent hit his nose. “Leather and…  ash…” he muttered to himself just before his eyes flew open, frantically looked for where the scent may have come from. That scent, two very common things in this world, he knew that, but together, they only smelled a certain way together for one man. It was impossible that scent would be here, but Edward was sure he hadn’t mistaken it. That was a scent he’d know no matter what world he was in.

Hopping quickly off the wall, Edward closed his eyes frantically hoping for another chance at the scent, another chance to figure out where it was coming from. He was almost ready to give up when he caught it again. Golden eyes desperately searched now, feet taking him almost without thought in the direction he thought it had come from. His heart raced and despite the impossibility of it, he hoped none the less. Edward knew he was only going to be let down, his rational mind held that firm, but the irrational heart was in the driver’s seat. Down the sidewalk he nearly ran, his eyes scanning over every person but none of them were him, just as he’d already known they wouldn’t be.

Edward turned around and headed back. Maybe he’d gone the wrong direction. He still might have a chance if he hurried, might have a chance of chasing down the ghost, the shadow in the street light. But no matter how far his feet took him along the street, there was no sign of the man who smelled of worn leather and ash. Edward could feel his heart break as he stood there on the side walk, puffing in the chilly air and completely out of breath. The sting of tears marked his eyes just as Alphonse came from the building to meet him.

The younger Elric looked his brother over, the look of worry in his face. Like a crazy man, Edward explained what had happened. He looked so painfully desperate as he explained that all Alphonse could do was smile at his elder brother reassuringly and put a sympathetic arm around his shoulders. He didn’t have the heart say anything knowing that if Edward were explaining this to anyone else he would have found himself in an asylum for the mentally touched. It was completely crazy, the possibility that Roy was here in London, there was no way.

After managing to calm his elder brother down, Alphonse suggested they head home. Edward was simply grateful to be done with the entire, embarrassing mess…

As the two left, a man stepped out from around the building where he’d been in the shadows. A single dark eye watched as they walked away, a distinct blue uniform and black coat catching the breeze…

Not everything was as impossible as it seemed.


End file.
